


Even the strongest fall apart.

by ZulemasPuta



Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: Angst, Developing Relationship, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, F/F, Hurt/Comfort, Jemily - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-23
Updated: 2021-02-28
Packaged: 2021-03-14 07:09:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,289
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29663625
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZulemasPuta/pseuds/ZulemasPuta
Summary: Emily meets a guy and they start dating. But everything is not as it seems. He’s not the guy they used to think he is.Is Emily going to be able to get out of his grasps? Read to find out.
Relationships: Jennifer "JJ" Jareau/Emily Prentiss
Comments: 7
Kudos: 18





	1. Chapter 1

Emily had always tried to be strong and by doing so, whenever she was hurting, she tended to push those away that were close to her and not allow anyone in. At least that's what her therapist kept telling her. It was because of her therapist that she even decided to go to the stupid dating event, she didn't want to at all, but JJ had pushed her to do so, trying to encourage her along.

"Come on, you don't want to live with your cat forever, do you?" She had said to her.

That earned an eye roll on Emily's part but she did eventually go with JJ to the event, only to satisfy her friend and her therapist. Perhaps, if she simply stared down at the ground and only made small talk no one would be interested and she could simply go on about her life without another partner dragging her down. But then she really clicked with Brian. I mean, really really clicked. SHe had spent the entire night talking to him and when it came time to leave she actually didn't want to but she promised JJ a ride home.

So regrettably she said her goodbyes and went along with her friend. The fact that they clicked so well seemed to... scare Emily. She worried that if she got close to someone, well it would only end in heartbreak, right?

The raven haired agent ignored Brian's texts and phone calls to the extent that even Hotch was noticing her behavior. So, eventually JJ stopped her one day, forcing her to spill her truth. Considering she was backed into a corner, she couldn't exactly push her away. 𝓓𝓪𝓶𝓷 𝓹𝓻𝓸𝓯𝓲𝓵𝓮𝓻𝓼.  
After a long conversation, JJ eventually convinced Emily to call Brian back and set up a date. She could still remember JJ's crystal blue eyes lighting up with excitement when she called him right in front of her and set up a date at the local restaraunt, seafood, Emily's favorite. He remembered from when they spoke last.

From the interactions they had had, one would think that perhaps this gentlemen was a wonderful guy, a potential bachelor for marriage, potential father of future children. She couldn't have been more wrong with her assumptions.

That brought them to where they were today, Emily had changed even more over the last several months she'd been seeing this Brian guy. He'd never told her his last name, perhaps if he had she would have run for the hills, or at least known that evil simply ran in the family. She would have left, and oh did she try. But his threats to tear her best friend apart, to kill her and make Emily watch, she simply couldn't allow that to happen so she was dealing with the abuse, day by day and hid the bruises with makeup and long sleeved shirt in the middle of Summer.

She hoped no one noticed the last few weeks that she'd been showing up late, and on this particular day she was more than forty five minutes late. If she fought back it was made worse by Brian so she tried to remain calm and let him do his thing. God, she hated being the victim and she hated that she couldn't do anything to stop him, not without killing the one woman she loved more than anything.

The raven haired agent quickly took her seat, happy that they were getting out of town on a new case.

"Sorry I'm late, Let's get started,"

Jennifer Jareau had always been the caring friend especially when it came to her team. Well they were more like a family to her.  
But seeing Emily always going home straight after work to Sergio had her thinking why she shouldn’t set her up for a date with someone. After all she just wanted her to be happy and find that one person who would be there for her always.  
Emily did deserve someone other than a cat to be there when she came home, she deserve to be loved. And JJ knew that their girls night wouldn’t be enough anymore at some point.

After it had finally worked out she was as happy as ever seeing Emily happy. She knew she was a very private person and wouldn’t talk that much about her private life out of the BAU but one day she did notice a change of her behavior. And not because she was a profilier but because she was one of her best friends.  
They all had made a promise to never profile each other ever.  
The blonde agent didn’t know if the others noticed it but she did. It was the fact that Emily would always come in late.  
The petite blonde figured that something must be wrong but she didn’t want to push her. She knew Emily tend to push people away and build a wall around herself. And she didn’t want that to happen.  
Today was one of those days where she once again noticed that the raven haired beauty had come in late as she looked at her worriedly but still trying to hide it so no one could see it.  
She so badly wanted to ask her what’s going on and why she was acting so strangely. Especially around her. It was like as if she was ignoring and avoiding her. She wouldn’t even look at her. “Did I do or say something wrong ?” She thought to herself. Feeling her pulling away from her did hurt a little.

Emily certainly was not angry with JJ in any circumstance, but Brian had simply been forcing her to cut off any connections with her friends. As a profiler she knew this kind of behavior, she knew what he was trying to do, cut her off from the outside world so that she would feel alone and it was working. He was getting the revenge he wanted simply because Emily was the one who had shot Brian's brother, she was the one who had killed him. It had been for a good reason, he'd shot another agent so in retailiation, she shot back, killing him instantly. She never realized that his brother would come back to make her life a living hell because of it. She really wished she had never gone on that date with him. The first couple months had been amazing, Prentiss had started to trust Brian and she was starting to actually fall for the guy, until he became abusive.

The first time he hit her she left him, but he came back, begging and pleading that he had simply been drunk and he would give up the alcohol if it meant that she trusted him again. His pleads that he would give up the thing that made him hurt her? That's the only reason she came back. And he did quit the alcohol for another couple months and things were blissful again. He apologized constantly any time she flinched if he got loud, telling her that he would never lay a hand to her again.

Everything changed when she told Brian she loved him, he started drinking again, some sort of guilt getting to him that he actually loved her back even though she was the one who killed his brother. After that, he became ruthless, one day at a time, and simply because she thought she loved him... at first that was enough. But after a while she couldn't take it anymore so he told her he would kill JJ if she left him, she scoffed in his face, but then the next day he sent pictures to her of JJ sitting at her table, eating dinner from outside her house. It scared the absolute shit out of her so she simply had to come back, she couldn't risk the life of the woman she loved more than anything. The woman she loved but could never have.

Prentiss zoned out as she was thinking about such things, and was snapped to attention when she felt JJ touch her shoulder. Instictively, she flinched away as JJ had touched a fresh bruise on her shoulder. A wince was made noticeable even though she quickly tried to conceal it.

"Oh, sorry I zoned out. You scared me.." She simply stated trying to roll it off and to pay attention to the case in Florida.

Three woman strangled to death in their own homes, no sign of forced entry, signs of sexual assault. Focus Emily. Focus.

She really couldn't even think about it and was snapped back to attention again when she heard Hotch's voice.

"Wheels up in 30,"

Once Emily flinched , Jennifer was taken aback. Normally this never happened. Sure she had seen Emily zone off but she never got scared when she tried to bring her back.

That’s when she really started to get worried. She had cut her off. JJ was thinking she had done something. Her best friend was pulling away from her after all these years. They had been inseparable. What was happening now?  
Mhh maybe she just didn’t care about her anymore since she has Brian now?

She waited until everyone had left the round table room before she spoke quietly “Emily? What’s going on?” She tried. But she knew she wasn’t going to get an answer, why would she. It’s not like they really talked in the last couple of weeks.  
Was she hurt? Why would she flinch away like that. She knew Emily Prentiss wasn’t one to get scared. She had known her for years now. And she never flinched. That was the first thing she noticed when the raven haired woman started working with them. She came off off a desk job, well at least that’s what they had been told and on the field she didn’t even flinch or get scared. JJ had asked her about it and she had told her that she might compartmentalize it better than the other. JJ just shrugged it off back then.

But seeing her like this now was really worrying her since she deeply cared for her. She loved her.

She wanted to tell her, god she wanted to tell her more than anything that she wanted help, she wanted out of Brian's life, she wanted as far away from him as possible. She wanted her best friend back and for things to just go back to the way they were, to just go home to her cat and nobody else. It was a mistake letting Brian move in the last month but he forced her to, stating that he would hurt JJ if she didn't comply with his demands and what was worse was she actually believed he would do it. She wanted to feel strong, but lately she just felt so weak and broken. It was only made worse by the fact that Brian tapped her phone so sometimes he could hear who she was talking to.

She knew JJ would want to talk to her alone so she sat back with the blonde while everyone else gathered their things to go on the jet to be prepared for Florida. She hoped that she couldn't see through her makeup, underneath her concealer was a black eye.

But here, JJ was, taking her hand, trying to get some kind of an answer out of her and with it, panic was clearing flooding the raven haired agent's eyes, actual panic. She felt like she couldn't breath and she reached into her pocket to turn off her phone. If it was off, he couldn't hear her, but she knew she'd pay for it later if she didn't have an explanation. She'd have to say that her phone died and she had to charge it on the jet.

"JJ... " She said, biting her lip, wanting more than anything to tell her what was going on. "I just need you to know that you're my best friend and I love you more than anything okay? and what I'm going through right now.... I'll get over it. I don't want you to think I'm ignoring you or anything okay?"

That was the best she could do, she couldn't tell her what it was, but she could tell her that she loved her and she was her best friend. She only wished that she could tell her how she really felt about her. Perhaps if she had done so like she had planned that night before the date, none of this would have happened. She could only blame herself at this point.

"Maybe we can go shopping when this is over? The case in Florida. You know they have Philly cheese steaks that are soooo good," Emily said, trying to lighten the mood.

Jennifer know something more was going on but she decided to drop it for now. She didn’t want to cause any trouble or anything. She hated seeing her like this and she hated the fact that she couldn’t do anything about that.

But hearing those words after weeks gave her some relief. She didn’t hate her, she wasn’t ignoring her, at least not on purpose. But still it did hurt a little.

She missed her. She missed her a lot and part of herself hated it that she pushed Emily towards Brian. But at least he could give her what she wanted and needed. At least that’s what she thought since she didn’t know the truth.

She had missed their girls nights as well. When they could unwind after a case. And when she made the suggestion about going shopping she did smile a bit. “I love you too Em, and I think that sounds like a great idea. But maybe we should go now before they take off without us. They’d be lost without you and me “ she claimed winking at the dark haired agent.

She actually smiled when JJ winked at her, feeling those familiar butterflies swarm in the pit of her stomach. Even after all this time, JJ still made her swoon without even trying. She tried desperately to push this part of her away, hide the way that she truly felt about the blonde agent. She just couldn't help herself, she couldn't help but to feel a magnetic attraction towards her and she wanted so badly to tell her, but she also was worried that it would ruin what they already had. She never wanted that to happen, not after everything they had been through, especially after she had to fake her own death. The raven haired agent was beginning to worry that she would have to do the same thing again just to escape Brian, or maybe go in some kind of protection program, or rather force JJ to go into the protection program to ensure Brian didn't hurt her.

"They would be so lost without us," Emily agreed, standing up from the table and hiding the wince from her bruises. Both arms and shoulders were covered in them, and her spine was bruised as well from being shoved through a table, breaking the glass and creating a few slashes on her arms.

They made their way to the plane and Emily was quick to turn on her phone and answer the thirty seven texts that Brian had sent her in the few moments she had her phone off.

"Sorry, phone died. Plugged in on the plane," She replied back, wincing at the thought of how he might try and punish her or her friends simply because she turned her phone off. Was it bad that she wanted to toss the damn thing out the window? Probably.

Regardless she took a seat next to JJ on the plane and offered her a smile, trying to show her that she was trying to get back to the way things were, trying to erase the last couple of weeks where they barely spoke to each other and Prentiss raced home early so that Brian couldn't accuse her of doing anything.

Hotch began dishing out assignments immediately, telling which agent where to go when the plane landed.

"JJ, you and Prentiss go to the dump site of the third victim, Reid, stay at the station with me and work on victimology, Morgan, you and Rossi go interview the families,"

Each agent nodded at their assigments and began talking over the case, but Prentiss still couldn't focus on it. She turned her phone on silent so no one could hear the fact that Brian was blowing up her phone with death threats, but occasionally she'd look down at it and would feel debilitating fear coarsing through her entire body, her heart grew cold with the thought of how he was going to hurt her or the people she loved. Subconsciously, the agent began to rub the spot on her shoulder JJ touched earlier, the fresh bruise.

When they landed, Emily hopped in the car with JJ, already beginning to wish she could wear a short sleeved shirt, in this heat she already was beginning to feel light headed so she was relieved when they turned on the AC.

"Three girls in two days, This guy's cooling off period is nonexistant," Prentiss said, hoping JJ wouldn't say anything about her issue with her outfit.

'please don't say anything' she prayed over and over in her head.

But by the time they got to the dump site and they stood there, talking over the case, Prentiss began to feel the ground swaying beneath her feet, dehydration mixed with the heat was becoming a dangerous factor that she couldn't ignore but desperately tried to. Before she knew it, she collapsed to the ground.


	2. Chapter 2

JJ took a deep breath. The attraction towards Emily was almost too much. She had stopped herself so many times from just grabbing her cheeks and pulling her in for a kiss. But she couldn’t do that even though she really longed for it. Things weren’t always easy and back then it had killed her when Emily had to fake her own death. She knew she was alive and safe but something in her died a little when the raven haired woman had left. They still had found a way to communicate. Online scrabble. She knew Emily work recognize her as cheetobreath. I mean who on their team wouldn’t by the unhealthy amount of Cheetos she was always snacking on. But something in her head was still screaming that something was wrong with her best friend , the woman she loved. She was glad that they were assigned to be together on this case. At least she could keep and eye on her partner. She was so desperately trying to stop herself from starting to profile. She pushed those thoughts aside as they both had reached the dump side. But then it happened. Emily collapsed right in front of her. “Emily! Oh god!” She immediately ran to her side kneeling on the ground. “Hey can you hear me?” She said touching her face with the back of her hand. “God Emily you’re burning up! “. She definitely wasn’t wearing the right clothing. It was way to warm to be wearing this. She pulled the other agent up into a sitting position carefully as she proceeded to roll her sleeves up. That’s when she saw it. Them. Her heart seemed to have stopped at the sight in front of her. Bruises... bruises that were covering her arms. “E-Emily?”. 

Everything had simply gone dark for Emily, one minute they were talking about victimology, the reason why the killer would have chosen these specific victims and dumped them in the park. Why the park? Was it to show some kind of display? A warning to women? For someone to be this violent there had to be some kind of grudge. Every now and then Emily would feel herself getting dizzy as they spoke.

It was nearly 102 degree weather and Emily was wearing a long sleeve shirt and black pants, not exactly something that should be worn in this kind of weather. So, of course, without having drank any sort of water, she was dehydrated and horribly dressed for the weather. But before she knew it she had hit the ground, she could hear JJ calling out for her in a panic as she ran to her. She didn't want JJ to find out this way, find out that she was broken in such a way, the way she was being abused and not just physically. She heard the gasp when JJ began to pull up her sleeves in a simple, innocent attempt to get her to cool off, they needed to get her in the car and get her hydrated. However, by JJ doing so, pulling up her sleeves she saw the real story of why the raven haired agent had been distant from her. She saw the abuse, the pain, the reason behind her winces in pain. And by doing so, she also was cooling off Prentiss and the ground beneath her began to stop moving in circles, she was able to slowly open her eyes, coming back from fainting. "I'm sorry," Was all that she said at first, eyes diverting from JJ's, unable to meet her gaze. — The blondes heart broke. It broke. What had happened ? Was that Brian ? Wait if it was then it’s her fault ! She pushed Emily. She made her go out with him. “Emily? What happened, did Brian hurt you?” She asked her with a lot of worry and hurt in her voice. She pushed a strand of her raven hair out of her face. This was the reason why Emily had been acting so strangely around them all, around her. He was hurting her, abusing her and JJ didn’t know. She couldn’t protect her. But how could it come this far? Emily was the strongest woman she had ever met. “Emily can you stand up? I’ll help you. We need to get you to the car but I don’t want to hurt you...” It made sense now. Why she flinched away when the blonde had touched her shoulder. That son of a bitch will never ever lay a hand on her again or he will regret it. But what made Emily stay with him? She knew her, better than she knew anyone and the Emily she knew wouldn’t stay with a man like this... so what was the real reason behind that? And why was he doing that to her. Who was this Brian.

JJ can’t help but feel guilty. If she hadn’t had pushed Emily , all of this would have never happened

It was simply just too hot in this weather and JJ was right, she had to be careful on where she touched Emily due to the heavy impact of the brusies all in different stages of healing. Some were blue, others were green or yellow. On her right arm there was a deep gash from when she was thrown into a glass table. The irony of it all was that she only endured such agony to ensure that JJ would remain safe aand that he wouldn't hurt her. The brunette took her hand so that she could stand properly and they went back to her car to blast the AC and drink some water that JJ stored in the backseat. In fact, JJ even drove them to get an iced coffee, they'd already done their part at the site anyways, seen all they'd came to see so to speak. It took a few moments for Emily to fully come-to, and she pulled down her sleeves instantly, she wanted to look down at the floor, to hide away. She hated JJ seeing her this weak. "I never wanted you to see me like this," She said, reaching into her pocket and making sure that her phone was turned off, when she saw it wasn't she threw it out the window, watching it smash as they drove to the nearest coffee shop for drive through, probably a Starbucks. "I already know what you are thinking. Why did I stay..." she said, meeting JJ's gaze, she could tell she wanted to know. "Do you have a safe house, a place to stay that he wouldn't know about?" Emily said suddenly. "Somewhere he can't find you, somewhere we could stay..

How could a person do such a thing. Sure they had seen many gruesome things but seeing someone she dearly loved her hurt probably on a daily basis broke her heart. She had never seen the dark haired agent like this. She was scared. JJ could hear it in her voice and see it on her face. And now she was scared too. What else was he capable of? “Why would he do that to you Em? How could he do that?” JJ still couldn’t believe it. Her once so beautifully pale soft skin was covered in bruises in every color indicating that it has been going on for a while now.

Part of her wished Emily had come to her sooner but she was glad she knew now. At least she could help her now. Getting away from that son of a bitch. “Can’t we tell Hotch?” She already knew the answer but she thought it was worth a shot. “I mean it can’t continue like this Em. And Hotch could help. But what do you mean with somewhere he can’t find me? You’re the one he’s been hurting. “ JJ was confused for a second but the profiler in her put one and one together. Was he threatening to hurt her so Emily would stay? God was she the reason Emily went through hell?

**Author's Note:**

> This fanfic is not only written by me. A friend of mine is part of it too! 
> 
> We don’t own criminal minds


End file.
